Thaw
by SecretBox
Summary: She wasn't cold anymore; —ღ— \ sasuke x hinata /


**A/N : **Ze first SasuHina I have ever written. I thought it was alright -- I could've done better. I know this isn't my best, I mean I did kind of write this in a really short time period, but it's nice to get reviews that don't leave you wondering what the heck they say, you know? & I apologize for any obvious signs of OOC'ness. Go easy on me?

Flamers are lamers who can just go fall down a well . . . or something.

_Please tell me what you think._

**Disclaimer:** Me no own you no sue.

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**Thaw**

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**S**he looked about ready to faint.

"Here," Sasuke declared in a gruff baritone as he let his eyes linger on her long, pallid fingertips that had turned a bit pinkish as a result from being exposed to the cold air for so long. He took off his small black jacket when she cocked her head demurely in his direction, draping it over her lithe shoulders before she could even think to object.

Noting the bewildered look on the Hyuuga heiress' face, he continued on in a suspiciously clipped tone of voice, "Not like I need it or anthing."

"O-Oh no Uchiha-san! I-I couldn't possibly accept . . ." she trailed off there, flustered, watching as he raised a neat onyx eyebrow in confusion. He obviously didn't get it, and she worried a full bottom lip between her pearly teeth in consternation; she started to take off the offered cotton material slowly but froze up immediately when his hand brushed against hers, and he looked down at her with a mixture of annoyance and something else that she couldn't quite place swirling in those murky, coal-colored depths. It looked so foreign on his stoic countenance that she swore she must have imagined it on the spot.

Sasuke Uchiha couldn't possibly be concerned about her well-being, could he?

"Why not?" he demanded haughtily. It almost sounded like a challenge.

Hinata found herself flinching away from him, gazing at anywhere but directly back up at him as if afraid of meeting those cold, black eyes that seemed to radiate ridicule of every fiber in her being -- gusts of snow that billowed, then swirled and drifted to the ground, and even the pale sapphire skyline that lay overhead seemed to hold more interest for her than the teenaged boy standing in front of her. She hated confrontation with a passion, and she rarely showed dislike for anything if at all.

"B-But what about you?" It was said in a hushed, almost silent, tone. Puffs of breath rose in the air as warm mists and she inhaled shakily.

Sasuke shrugged nonchalantly, not looking in the least bit fazed as he gazed off into the distance. "I'm used to the cold."

"O-Ohh." She still looked doubtful.

He refocused his attention back on her in the blink of an eye. "Why did you let that pink-haired twit take your jacket? Don't try to deny it either, I saw you wearing it earlier."

Hinata fidgeted on the spot. She shifted on her feet as she eyed him nervously. "You m-mean Sakura-chan?" Noticing the scowl that immediately etched itself across his handsome face at the name of the roseate-haired girl, she continued on nervously, "U-m well she w-was r-really cold and sh-he a-asked s-so I let her borrow it . . ."

Sasuke snorted derisively underneath his breath, lowering his head and crossing his arms tightly across his chest. "Why do you always do that?"

"D-Do what?" Her fingers were trembling now, as she maintained her line of vision on her shoes. They were shiny.

"Put everyone else's needs before your own. If you keep doing that, people will eventually take advantage of you." He gave her a pointed look, his dark eyes narrowed and intense and taking the breath out of her. "That is, if they haven't already."

Hinata swallowed nervously, wringing her hands in front of her.

"I swear, you're so useless sometimes," Sasuke mumbled, more to himself than to her.

She cringed, but her feet stayed rooted to the spot. Her figure was bent and drawn in as if waiting to be struck for her incompetence.

Sasuke turned to look at her again, eyes flashing. "Stop agreeing with me."

She blinked, looking startled. "I d-don't under --"

"You're too damn nice," he said softly, looking off to the side. "Stop it. You'll only get yourself hurt."

"I'm so s-sorry!" Hinata bowed in apology. The top of her chin brushed low against her chest as jet-black strands laced with undertones of midnight blue fell in a curtain to obscure her pale heart-shaped face from his view.

"Would you stop apologizing?" Sasuke snapped impatiently.

"S-sorry!" She turned white as a ghost when she realized her mistake. "I m-mean, um . . . pl-lease don't be mad! I'll keep your jacket if that is what you want."

"Hn." He paused. "You're still shivering," Sasuke observed quietly, his face remaining impassive. It was never easy to tell how the prodigy felt, even after knowing him for more than three years. She still couldn't tell how he felt just by looking at him.

"Eh?" she said uncertainly, suddenly aware of how close his voice was to her. Peering up at him uncertainly, her eyes widened as they met a pair of frost-bitten obsidians.

"U-uchiha-san?" she said uncertainly.

Hinata found herself taking a step back as he moved forward. Petal-hued lips parted to issue forth a half jumble of muddled words but stopped as another pair pressed down against them softly, then traveled down, further and yet further still. They pressed upon her chin, brushed against her smooth ivory neck. He pulled back on the jacket he'd lent her temporarily, and kissed her collarbone, brushing his tongue over it which made her shiver, feverishly. Just as she had let her eyelids flutter from the pleasant feelings these actions caused, he abruptly halted in his ministrations.

Bewildered wide, pearlescent orbs fluttered open delicately as they locked with black ones. "W-why did you stop?" she asked perplexedly.

It took a moment for Hinata to fully comprehend the gravity of her own words. When she realized exactly what she had just asked the Uchiha prodigy her cheeks practically exploded in the brightest shade of cherry-shades possible as she swayed slightly on her feet; she didn't realize she was clutching tightly at his shirt, scrunching up the material of it, until his warm breath wafted by the creamy shell of her flushed ear.

"Why?" Sasuke inquired with a husky timbre. "You want me to keep going?" She gasped quietly as her cheeks blazed with warmth.

"N-no, i-it's okay, there's no need, um h-here you go," she stammered out rather embarrassedly, shrugging the jacket off her shoulders quickly, folding it, and handing it to him. Discomfited, Hinata avoided his eyes so that he wouldn't notice her flushed cheeks but reflected internally that it might have already been a little too late for that. "T-hank you for the offer Uchila-san, but I think I'm o-okay now." She twiddled her thumbs and peered up at him through the curtain of her dark hair shyly.

The sight that greeted her made her heart race, and her mind join in with the chorus of little heartbeats in her head.

He always had a solemn look in his eyes, and she could never find a true smile on his face. It was like he was immune to the cheerful look. The storm in his black eyes seemed to have dissipated completely in that moment though, causing the dark cornea to shimmer with some unnamed emotion. The beginnings of what she could have sworn twitched at his lips and hesitated before resembling that of a faint smile was present on his normally aloof features. The teenaged boy almost appeared vivacious as he fixed her with an amused glance. "You're not still cold are you?" he asked.

It was in that single shining moment as another gust of icy wind blew past in a whirl of snowflakes that sent sable silken like tendrils whipping behind her that she reflected no -- she was anything _but_ cold, really.

Despite herself, Hinata found herself smiling a small, tenacious, awkward grin back.

_**--fi**n._


End file.
